2018 Tiger Mailbag: 21st Edition
Every week, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond answers questions from Tiger fans in the mailbag. This format allows for a more expansive answer than a message board post. Keep your eye out each week to submit your question for the mailbag or send them to powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's inquiries.
mexicojoe asks: Currently four SEC East football teams play non conf games vs ACC every year.UGA/Ga Tech; Cocks /Clemson; Gators/FSU; Kentucky/Louisville.If the remaining three East teams wanted to play an annual non conf game vs a Power 5, who would you pair together?Same question but this time involving 3-4 West Division teams and the best/natural matchups.
GD: So for your question, the teams in the East left are Missouri, Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
Mizzou is easy. I think a game against Nebraska rotating between Columbia, Kansas City and Lincoln is the most attractive non-conference thing out there. Kansas State would be okay. No interest in Kansas and Illinois in football. Those are good basketball rivalries, but football does nothing for me right now.
For Vanderbilt, maybe Duke? I mean, it's not super exciting to anybody outside those fanbases, but they're both similar schools, it makes some geographic sense. Tennessee, if you ask their fans, they'd say Ohio State because those damn Vols don't stoop to compete with anybody but the best. Realistically? I like a Virginia Tech matchup for them, maybe Penn State.
Here's the West:
Auburn--Miami
Alabama--Anybody
LSU--Michigan
Ole Miss--Texas Tech
Mississippi State--NC State?
Arkansas--Oklahoma State
Texas A&M--Texas
Hey, Greg Sankey, get this done.
FiremanDanKC asks: Do you think there is still a need for Mizzou to rebuild their presence in KC? It seems that they lost some of their presence with the conference move and only made mild attempts to regain a share of the market.
GD: I haven't lived in KC for a long time so I can't tell you what it's like on a daily basis there. But I think people who were Mizzou fans there ten years ago probably still are. Those who aren't Mizzou fans probably aren't.
I do think there is something to the idea that Kansas and Kansas State fans don't pay nearly as much attention to Mizzou anymore. And not quite as much time is spent talking about the Tigers on the airwaves. Radio and TV will still talk about Mizzou, but when it was in the Big 12, those guys were breaking down their league and their opponents and all facets weekly. They're not really doing that with the SEC. Kansas City is a Big Eight/Big 12 town. It just is. That doesn't mean Missouri doesn't matter there or that Missouri fans there aren't happy about the move to the SEC, but Kansas City was the center of that conference. The league headquarters used to be there, the basketball tournament is there, the football title game has been there. In the SEC, it's the western most city in the western most state in the conference (yeah, I know parts of Texas are west of Kansas City, but you get my point).
You know what rebuilds the presence? Winning. I bet there were plenty of people talking about Mizzou in 2013 and 2014 when the Tigers were winning the East. Now? Other than this past basketball season nobody's really talked about them anywhere since then. It's not a KC thing.
Coke4Quin asks: Is there any conceivable way that MPS is not on staff if Jontay comes back? Could they move him to an Admin position so they can hire a real coach/recruiter?
GD: Lot to unpack here. Let's go in order.
First off, you can't move Porter to an administrative position. The rule is that if you hire a family member it has to be as one of the three full-time assistant positions. I like to call this the Ed and Mario Chalmers Rule (though they weren't the only ones).
Second, the "real coach/recruiter" is just insulting. Did he get the job because of who his kids were? Yes. But he's not just some guy off the street that knows nothing about basketball. It doesn't have to be either/or. You can say he's qualified for the job while also saying that he wouldn't have gotten it if he weren't Michael and Jontay's father. But the "hire a real coach" is way too strong and lacks tact.
Finally, is there a way he's not on staff if Jontay is back? Sure. I mean anything's possible. But if Jontay's back, I assume Senior will be back too. And I think there's a chance Senior is back even if Jontay isn't, but the chances of that are obviously lower.
SpikesDown06 asks: I’d be doing the board a disservice if I didn’t ask for your thoughts on the Royal Wedding. I wasn’t a big fan on Markle’s dress. What do you think?
jdw985 asks: Looks like the non-conf football schedules are filled through 2020 but still two more games to fill in 2021 and 2022, and still need to find a Power 5 opponent for the 2025 schedule. Do you receive any inside info on future opponents or do you generally find out when we do?
GD: From time to time we may get a scheduling tip, but usually people are hesitant to talk about those things until they're 100% finalized and signed and once that happens, they're announced by the schools. A couple of weeks ago someone told me to be the lookout for an announcement of a big-time series with a Big East team. I couldn't get any more info than that and then the Xavier stuff came out.
By the way, the fact that we're talking about finding opponents for 2025 is a little ridiculous.
rams721 asks: Do you still think Jontay stays in the draft even with these new reports he leaning on coming back?
GD: I mean, I don't know. How could I know? All I can tell you is that three weeks ago the word was "he's gone." And in the last 7-10 days I've had a number of sources that tend to have good information tell me "there's a legitimate chance he comes back." A possible explanation for that is feedback they got at the draft combine. Most mock drafts I've seen still have him between 23 and 35 so that hasn't really changed much. But when we had Senior on our podcast last week, it struck me that maybe mom and dad don't think this 18-year-old kid who isn't even supposed to have started college yet might not be ready to go off and be a full-grown adult living an NBA lifestyle.
But ultimately is he coming back? I've got no idea. And I don't think anyone else does either at this point because I don't think the decision's been made.
jjspkd asks: How many wins is Jontay worth? Meaning predicted record without him and with him?If the State of Missouri is able to pass legislation that allows sports gambling do you plan on hosting it on Power Mizzou? You should.I thought you were exaggerating about how bad the Royals were until I watched them play the Cardinals Monday night. I no longer believe that to be the case. Can the really not catch the ball at all? Not my real question. Should the Cardinals make a play for Mike Moustakas? What do you think the Royals can get for him?
GD: I think having Jontay is the difference between a .500 or a little better season where you hope to get into the NIT and legitimate NCAA Tournament hopes. He's a probable first-team all-SEC guy in the preseason and a potential conference player of the year candidate. So, basically, Kassius Robertson from last year. How much worse would Missouri have been without him? In addition, having Jontay on the roster takes pressure off Jeremiah Tilmon (and for that matter everyone else on the floor). He would be the best passing big man in the conference if not the country. Everything would run through him. Yeah, I think it makes a big difference.
As far as sports gambling, I'm not sure what you mean by hosting it on PM. Like am I going to be a book? No.
And the Royals, yeah, they're bad. Really bad. 100-loss bad. And I hope they're worse. They should trade everyone who's not bolted to the floor. For anything they can get. I don't know what you can get for Moose, but take it. Same for Ian Kennedy, Kelvin Herrera, Lucas Duda, Jon Jay, Danny Duffy, Whit Merrifield, Alcides Escobar (will somebody PLEASE take him?), Eric Skoglund and Salvador Perez. I'd probably hang on to Jorge Soler and Jake Junis and let Alex Gordon finish his career as a Royal. Other than that, I hope they're playing the Omaha Stormchasers lineup every night after the All-Star break.
mufootball1 asks: If Mizzou was being investigated by the FBI for paying players and had a cheerleading scandal where girls were forced to strip naked and have male athletes see them, would the ku star cover the story more than they have these actual events happening at ku?
GD: Probably. First lesson of consuming sports media: Every outlet hates your team. Especially if your team is Missouri.
Ben B asks: Someone said Austyn Carta Samuel started following Hunter Johnson the Clemson QB who is transfering on twitter. Seems Mizzou is at least doing their due diligence. Any chance if they contacted him he might have an interest or does he need a flashier landing spot? He'd have to sit a year then have 3 to play is what I read somewhere, seems that'd be just a good as taking a freshman who would need to adjust to college.
GD: I definitely think Missouri will kick the tires and take a look. But the truth is, once a kid announces his intent to transfer, he usually already has a landing spot in mind, if not completely lined up. Tampering doesn't happen of course, because that would be against NCAA rules and nobody ever breaks NCAA rules, but it just seems to work out that kids find a landing spot that most of us expected pretty quickly. If Missouri can find a Power Five QB transfer, I think that's an ideal fit...but I'm not sure Johnson is realistic at this point.
Uoz533 asks: Cargo shorts or jorts?
GD: I don't own any jorts. I own some shorts with multiple pockets, though I don't know if they'd qualify as actual cargo shorts. But you know what? Sometimes you got a lot of stuff to carry. And I don't really give a crap what anybody thinks about my shorts. I spend most of my life in gym shorts and a t-shirt, so cargo shorts might be considered a step up for me.
Graphic Edge Guy asks: Rank the most important issues of the week and give a short "educated guess" answer to each:1) Is Jontay coming back?2) WAR (wins above replacement) for Jontay if he comes back?3) Will MPSr be back if Jontay leaves?4) How many SEC wins does Mizzou Baseball need to make the NCAA Tourney...and will they get there?5) Who will be new Head Softball Coach?6) Kyren Williams...odds of coming to Mizzou?7) Does the kUStar favor kansas and go out of it's way to slam Mizzou?8) EJ Liddell...odds of coming to Mizzou?9) Steve Bieser vs Tim Jamieson. ...improvement or"about the same?"10) Drew Lock's Mizzou legacy will be...? (no cop out here...make the tough call and predict how his and the team's season will go)11) Toasted Ravioli...rank on a scale of 1-10?
GD: I'm going to change the name of this feature. No need to call it a mailbag anymore. I'll just call it the Meaningless Prediction Machine. Because nine of these ten questions are "What's going to happen in the future?" And nine out of every ten questions I get is "What's going to happen?" I'm not psychic. I have no special powers. With the advent of the Internet we morphed from the media reporting what happened to the media reporting what is happening. But now it's jumped the shark and taken the next step. Now it's "what's going to happen?" And most often, if you answer incorrectly, you get a bunch of heat for it. If I pick Missouri to win and they don't, I get a lot of angry "What the hell happened, I thought this game was supposed to be easy" messages. If I pick them to lose and they win, it's "Man, you're an idiot. With friends like you covering the program who needs enemies?" And if you don't make a prediction and are honest and say "I have no idea" the response is "What the hell do I follow you for then?"
Rant over, I'll answer your questions and tell you that they're all meaningless.
1) Maybe
2) Answered above. Probably 5ish
3) Maybe
6) 50-50. Listen to him talk here.
7) Absolutely. All reporters hate Mizzou.
8) 50-50
9) About the same for now.
10) A guy who put up great numbers on teams that were average overall and who has a long NFL career.
11) T-Ravs are a solid 8
esteele asks: I think I read on here once that GP started to put more effort/preparation into bowl games at some point. Obviously everybody wants to win, but how much do you think BO and his staff emphasize bowl game preparation? Is it more let the team have fun or is it closer to an average regular season week?
GD: I don't really remember if Pinkel's approach to bowl games changed over time. It probably did, but I don't recall specifically. With Odom's staff, I think they absolutely prepared for that bowl game trying to win. I mean, yeah, they wanted to have fun, but they spent so much time talking about how big it was to win their seventh straight, to be the second team ever to go from 1-5 to 8-5, how much better 8-5 sounded than 7-6 that I refuse to give them an out by saying "Maybe they were just happy to be there and they didn't spend that much time preparing." They prepared to win. They just played like garbage.
epollack asks: On a scale of 1 to 10 - one being Cuonzo takes the AD job at kansas tomorrow and Mizzou folds the next day, ten being Christopher, Liddell, McKinney, Tilmon, Watson are the starting five of a 40-0 2021 natty - how do you foresee the next few years going for the basketball program, and then, whatever your answer is, is that "good enough" for you? For fans? For boosters? For Sterk?
GD: This is the ultimate Meaningless Prediction Machine question. I get to predict multiple years at a time.
Let's start with what the baseline expectation for Missouri basketball should be. I think in the vast, vast majority of years, Missouri should be in the top half of the SEC. I think it should be a top four seed more often than not in the conference tournament (Missouri cares as much or more about basketball than all but one program in the conference). I think you should be in serious NCAA Tournament contention at least three out of every four years and probably make the tournament at least five times every eight years. What you do once you get there is a crapshoot. But let's say I think Missouri's average season should be about 22-9/11-7 entering the post-season.
Can Cuonzo Martin get to that? I think he can. Over the course of a ten-year head coaching career, his average is 20-13. If you take out his first year at Missouri State, when he took over a dumpster and went 11-20/3-15, his nine-year mark is 195-114 overall and 94-65 in conference play. That averages out to 21.7 wins and 12.7 losses per season. The conference record averages out to 10.4-7.2.
So the coach Cuonzo has been over the last nine years lines up almost exactly with what I think reasonable expectations are at Missouri. I think he'll be better than what Mizzou has had over the last few years without question. Will he be able to get the program to where it was from 1976-1994 (a top 15ish program in the country)? I don't know. That's what we have to wait and see.